Tying the bowline
by Shantari
Summary: Ron and Luna announce to their near and dear, that they're going to get married. Mrs. Weasley can't help herself and takes over the planning. Will Luna be able to stand the normal and traditional wedding ahead of her? Or will her fiancé save the day?
1. Chapter 1

Tying the bowline.

**Author's notes:** Welcome to my fourth Ron/Luna-fic. This is based on a challenge issued on the Portkey Ron/Luna-forums.

**Warnings:** Just to get it out in the air, here are the other pairings beside Ron/Luna, that both this fic and I support. Harry/Hermione, Neville/Ginny, Fred/Angelina, George/Alicia and Lupin/Tonks. Some are canon, some are not, blabla, I don't care, though I prefer fanon L/T to canon L/T.

**Disclaimer:** I am not JK Rowling, I can't stress that enough. I don't get money for this, they don't write about me in the papers, zip nada. I didn't invent the characters, unless they're extras, in which case I likely did invent them. The basic idea for this fic isn't even invented by me, I'm just using it to bring glory to the beloved Red Moon.

And now that the author is done with her rantings, here's the first chapter.

Chapter 1, The Announcement.

It was a sunny and bright May afternoon, and The Burrow was filled with bustling activity. Even more so than was usual when all of the children had still lived with their parents. It was time for the yearly reunion of the old D.A. members, a tradition that Harry had started a year after he had defeated Lord Voldemort. Every year on the first Saturday of May, everybody who had been a member of the D.A. would have a gathering where they would party and catch up with old friends. As this year's reunion would be held at The Burrow, old Mrs. Weasley had decided to take charge and organize the event.

"Ron, be careful with that table!" Mrs. Weasley shouted.

Ron suddenly noticed that he'd almost rammed the table he was levitating into the house. Sheepishly he corrected its course back towards the front lawn.

"My my, Ronniekins," said Fred as he shook his head in disappointment. "You're twenty five years old, yet you can't manage to move around a table for less than two minutes before you start goofing off."

"Yeah, some of us actually manages to do so in less than one minute," said George as he spiraled the table he and Fred had been transporting around the house.

Shaking her head, Mrs. Weasley pulled out her wand and prodded George's back.

"You're adults now," she said exasperatedly. "Can't you manage to be serious without having me to yell at you or threaten you with spells?"

"Don't worry, Molly," said Alicia Spinnet, showing up from nowhere to take George's wand away from him. "A girlfriend's kiss of bribery is usually more efficient in keeping them on the rug." And with that she gave George a sound kiss.

"I would argue against her," said George, "but she makes a damn valid point." Gently taking back his wand he evenly leveled the table down on the lawn. Mrs. Weasley walked up to Alicia and gave her a big hug.

"I'm so glad that you and Angelina are around to keep my boys down to Earth."

"We can keep ourselves down to Earth on our own, mum," said Fred indignately.

"Then why did you hire me to keep your checkbooks balanced?" Angelina Johnson asked as she walked in around the corner with a basket of muffins. Fred walked up to her and took the basket away from her while putting his arm around her shoulders.

"Because you're prettier to look at when you balance books, than my dear brother is. That and by balancing books, you in difference from him knows that it doesn't involve juggling."

"It doesn't?" asked George astonished. "Blimey, all these years that I've been wrong."

It was so nice to hear his family talking like this, thought Ron to himself as they got the tables and the chairs to their right places. Almost like it used to be when they were all living under the same roof. But seeing his brothers tease around with their girlfriends just reminded him of Luna. She would be showing up later on, dragging with her father. He had no idea how she was going to manage to get her father in on the DA reunion without him getting suspicious, but when he had asked her about it she had just smiled mysteriously and told him to leave that to her. She would never smile like that unless she had a fully functioning plan under way, so he decided to trust her on this one. It was difficult to focus on the task of arranging chairs though, as he kept thinking of what he and Luna had to tell everyone.

"Well, that is what we can do for now, until Harry and Hermione show up with that extra table," said Mrs. Weasley. "Unless Ginny and Neville beats them to it with the extra chairs."

"We'd need the table anyway to seat the chairs around, wouldn't we?" asked George.

"Of course that's true," said Mrs. Weasley, squirming a bit uncomfortably. She could have it very difficult at times to admit being wrong or not knowing what was the right thing to do. Particularily when it came to housework or raising children.

Suddenly there were a couple of big cracks in the air.

"Are we late?" asked a disheveled Hermione, her left hand on the table and her right clutching Harry's left hand.

"Sorry, that it took so long," said Harry. "But we've never apparated with furniture before."

"That's quite alright, Harry dear," said Mrs. Weasley. "In fact you're early. We just decided to start setting up the tables ahead of time, and we just happen to be ready for you now." With a flick from her wand she got the table rising up into the air, and started to redirect it to its correct position. Meanwhile Ron walked up to his two best friends.

"Harry, Hermione," he said as he grabbed their arms. "It's good to see you guys. Haven't seen you for the last month."

"Don't blame us," said Hermione laughing. "You're the one who moved with your girlfriend across the country."

"How are things with Luna, by the way?" asked Harry. "She isn't here yet, is she?"

"Things are great, and no. She hasn't gotten here yet, but she'll show up when the others arrive."

"It's amazing though, isn't it?" said Hermione looking over at the twins having the plates and utensils dance their way on the table. "I mean, that all of us who were in the DA have managed to keep in touch for these past years."

"Yeah…" said Harry. "That is amazing."

Right then there was a big fizzling crack in the air rapidly followed by several small pops.

"Did we get everyone?" Ginny asked her boyfriend.

"1, 2, 3, …. 10, 11, 12. Yes, I think so," answered Neville.

"Good," she said, turning to her brothers. "Well, here we are!"

"Oh Ginny," exclaimed Mrs. Weasley, making her way over to her youngest child. "It's been so long!" she continued as she drew Ginny into a bear hug.

"Mum," said Ginny, almost gasping for breath. "It's been since last week."

As the chairs were seated around the tables, Fred made a quick counting in his head.

"Hold on," he said. "There's thirty three chairs here, but with Mum and Dad we're only thirty."

"Harry invited Remus and Nymphadora to come for once. Oh, and Mr Lovegood is coming as well," answered Mrs. Weasley. "Didn't Ron tell you?"

"Must have slipped my mind," said Ron absently, as he tried to figure out how to fit a row of four chairs without anyone getting their legs in a twist by sitting in them.

"Reeeaaally," asked Fred with a mock suspicious tone in his voice.

Finally giving up on the chairs, Ron turned to his brother.

"What now?"

"Nothing," said Fred unconvincingly. "I just find it interesting that the father of your girlfriend since two years back has been invited and that you haven't told anyone besides mum about it. That's all."

Ron sighed to himself. Sometimes he wondered if his brothers ever really did grow up, or if they just refused to think that he did.

"There's really nothing suspicious about it," he told his brother, as he returned his focus to the chairs he had abandoned. "It just so happens that Mr Lovegood has been feeling a bit lonely nowadays, now that his only daughter has moved out of the house. Luna asked mum if it was okay that he came over to meet some people and have a bite, and mum agreed."

"Really? And you didn't tell anyone because…?"

"Because what was there to tell? A extra guest hardly makes any difference." Ron finally managed to get the chairs to fit together. Fred stared at him and sighed outloud.

"You know," Fred said, bitter disappointment evident in his voice. "you're not as funny anymore since you've stopped getting all excited about what people think of you."

"Blame the bad influence of my lovely girl." Ron said with a bright smile. It was funny how sometimes he just had to think of Luna to start smiling for no real reason.

"Yuck, now you're smiling for no appearant reason too. At least I haven't let Angelina have that effect on me."

"Really," purred Angelina, as she jumped forward out of nowhere, putting her arms around Fred's waist from behind. "Then what if I tickle your belly?"

"Ehm, ehh?" Fred tried to struggle himself loose. "I suppose it wouldn't help if I said that we're in public?"

Angelina seemed to be pondering the subject.

"I guess that will have to save you for now," she said and then turned to look at Ron's wondering face. "Well, I had to find some way of distinguishing between the two of them. Their tickle spots just turned out to be it."

"Are you ready, daddy?"

"Almost. I can't seem to find my glasses."

Thelonius Lovegood came out of his bedroom fully dressed in his suit, looking wildly about for his glasses. As his eyes came looking into the hallway they landed on his daughter, who was all ready to go in her long blue skirt and white blouse. She wore her hair down as always, and he couldn't help but thinking of her mother. Remembering that they had to get going, he returned his focus to the task.

"I could have sworn that I just put them down…" he mumbled to himself as he looked about in every corner.

Luna looked intently at her father. And then she walked up to him as he stood there scratching his head, and pulled his glasses out of his breast pocket.

"There they are!" she said triumphantly.

Mr. Lovegood stared at the glasses for a while before putting them on.

"Sometimes I don't know what I would do without you. It's quite astonishing that I've managed these past months without you."

"Well, as long as you don't get taken away by Corky Cubbers, I know that you can handle living on your own," she said as she gave him a big hug. Though it was hard to admit, even to Ronald, she had been quite worried about her father and his constantly absent mind. Moving in with Ronald seemed like a selfish decision to her, even if her father had told her that he'd be all right. But she really felt like her father could handle it now. And she knew it was time for her to get on with her own life, together with her Ronald.

"Time to go?" asked her father.

"Yes," she answered and then they apparated.

Ron turned around at the sound of two big pops, and came face to face with Luna and her father. He smiled and moved towards them.

"It's about time you two showed up, everyone else has already come," he said as he hooked his arm around Luna's waste.

"Dad had a bit of a problem finding his glasses," Luna told him as she looked around at all the familiar faces. Everybody who had been a member of the DA had showed up, except for that Marietta Edgecombe from her old house. Then again, Marietta had stopped receiving invites to the reunions after not having showned up to the first three ones. Luna caught sight of other friends from both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, but decided to move her and Ronald towards her old friend Ginny. And the evening moved along with welcoming drinks and mingling, until they all got seated by the tables. The old friends were hardly hard pressed to sit by the tables, as Mrs. Weasley's homecooking invited them with it's aroma.

After having moved through the main course, talking and laughing together, Ron suddenly stood up and called for attention. As everybody started to quiet down, he looked around while beginning to talk.

"Well, ehhh… I, and Luna, just wanted to take this opportunity, now that practically all of mine and her family and friends are gathered here…"

Steadying himself with a deep breath, he continued.

"To give an announcement. We have namely decided to.."

He took a deep breath, to brace himself further for what he was about to say. Everybody were looking at him with expectation, wondering if he was going to finish the sentence, or just leave it there.

"Well, I asked her the question, and she answered yes. We are going to get married."


	2. Chapter 2

Tying the bowline.

**Author's notes:** Since I appearantly didn't make this clear enough in the first chapter of this fic, which my first review showed, I want to make it abundantly clear now:

I DO know that Ron/Luna will not happen in the HP-books. I have in fact read the interview in which it said "We do know now that it's Ron and Hermione", and guess what? I don't care. Because the Ron/Luna-dynamic in the books still remains one of my favorites. And this is a ship that no one can turn me off writing. EVER.

If JK Rowling came to my town, walked up to me and beated me senseless with a herring if I didn't convert over to R/Hr, I would still ship Ron/Luna. The ship simply is that great in my opinion. (I might ask her not to use a anchovy-flavoured herring, because I find fish-flavoured fish to be redundant.) (Yes, anchovy-flavoured herring does exist, not even I could make something like that up.)

**Warnings:** This fic will center quite a lot arround some of Molly Weasley's more negative traits. This chapter will begin, however slightly, in this trend. If you can't stand anything negatively being said about Molly Weasley at all, you may want to turn around.

**Disclaimer:** I am not JK Rowling. (Thus I may avoid beating myself senseless with a herring.) If I were JK Rowling, do you think I'd write Ron and Luna getting together? I'm not making money off this. I'm not getting fame from this. It's just for my own pleasure and in practice for my original work.

Chapter 2, The Reactions.

Mrs. Weasley let out a shreek of excitement. She could hardly believe it. Her little boy was going to get married. Mr. Lovegood and Mr. Weasley, who both happened to sit next to one another and had in fact been deep in a conversation about ministry dealings, proceeded to shake hands with each other while patting each others' backs. Most of the others seated by the table started to cheer for the engaged pair, except for Harry and Hermione who hugged their friends while congratulating them. Ginny broke off from further down the table to congratulate and hug her best female friend. Soon things quited down, and people returned to dinner, although there were now some changes in the topics of conversation.

"So," started Harry. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"More importantly," said Ginny. "Why didn't you tell me? Sister of the groom-to-be and best friend of the bride-to-be?"

"Because," answered Ron, as he took a sip of his drink. " We didn't want all of England to hear it from you first."

Ginny ignored him and turned to her best friend, bride-to-be.

"So, Luna. Who will be your maid of honor?" asked Ginny with a bright and cheery smile on her face.

"Actually, we haven't made any such decisions yet," answered Luna. "So far the only thing done is telling family and friends. We haven't really given the wedding itself any considering."

"Are you kidding me?" Ginny blurted out. "I mean, I know that if Neville ever popped the question to me, well I'd know how I would want things. You want to fullfill your dream wedding, don't you?"

Sipping his drink, Neville suddenly spit a mouthful out with his face all flushed.

"It's really a matter of whether you want to keep it simple or not," said Hermione. "Me and Harry kept it all rather simple, saved us a lot of hassle."

"I still can't believe you kept it so simple," said Ginny. "How can the wedding between the Boy-who-lived and the Girl-who-kept-him-alive, be civil and have only twelve guests and a cake? Me? I would have gone for some pomp and circumstance."

Pouring himself another drink, Neville missed the glass and had to frantically look for napkins.

"I know you would have, which is why we waited till the last minute to tell you," said Hermione calmly. "But back to you Luna. You have to know that most men are incapable of planning anything resembling a wedding. You'll have to be prepaired to know what it is you want for yourself."

"Well," said Luna smiling and blushing slightly. "I do have some ideas of what I want. For instance I've always figured as a little girl that I'd want a outside ceremony. That's what my parents had. Other than that, ohhh, I don't know really."

"Well, you and Ron will figure it out together," said Hermione with a knowing look. "Anyone can see how much you two love each other."

"I have to admit that I'm not too surprised," said Fred. "That Luna has you wrapped around her little finger, like a nice little ribbon."

Ron held in his laughter at his brother's so very appearant hypocrisy.

"Of course it is all good with that," continued George. "She is probably the best thing that ever happened to you. It's just saddening that she's done too much of a good job at turning you into a decent man."

"But my own biggest problem here is the possible pickle you may have gotten me and George into," Fred said in a more hushed up voice.

"What are you talking about?"

Fred sighed with an exasperated look on his face.

"It seems that whatever good effect your girl has had on you, it hasn't made you any less of a blockhead."

"The thing that Fred is trying to convey here," George filled in instead, "is that with you, our younger brother, ready to walk down the aisle already, it will put a bit of pressure on your two older and still single brothers."

"Mostly from mum," interjected Fred.

"As well as from our two birds," said George.

"But still mostly from mum," insisted Fred.

"Alright," said Ron holding his hands up as a gesture of no further explanation needed. "I get the picture. But you would have gotten to deal with that sooner or later anyway, you two have been going steady with your girls for quite a while now. What is it now, three years?"

"Four years and two months for me and Alicia," said George.

"Five years and seven months for me and Angelica," said Fred. "But who's counting?"

"Well, women do expect something to come out of that kind of commitment," said Harry before turning to face Ron. "You know, I think you might have gotten yourself in a tight spot now."

"What do you mean, Harry?"

"Well, when Hermione and I got engaged we decided to keep it all quiet for a reason. We didn't want all the media of the wizarding world to find out and make a fuss about out wedding."

Ron's face reddened as he waved his hand at the absurd notion.

"Harry, that was you and Hermione. I don't think they'll throw a fuss about me and Luna."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Harry said with a serious look on his face. "Think about it, both you and Luna did play a big part in the war after all. Not to mention that you are a star quidditch player after all, and that her writings in The Quibbler have gotten the eyes of the public on her quite a lot lately."

Though it pained him to admit it, Ron knew that Harry was right. Luna had indeed gotten some unwanted attention from writing so outspokenly about certain other reporters and their writing. Even though he had said it was just to try playing for a different team this year, the real reason for taking up the offer from The Prides was so that he and Luna could move to Portree which got them away from public eyes. This last month things had quieted down quite a bit, so he had figured they could go on and have their wedding close to their family and friends. Hopefully there would be no problems, as long as they managed to keep it fairly simple.

Around midnight people started to disperse. As Mr. Weasley talked with Mr. Lovegood on getting together to get to know one another better, father-in-law to father-in-law, Mrs. Weasley turned to Luna and asked if they could have a chat out in the kitchen. The two women walked into the kitchen, where Mrs. Wealsey with a flick of her wand got the dishes started.

"Now, my dear," Mrs. Weasley said as the dishbrush made itself busy with the many plates, "if you have any need for advice or help in planning this wedding, I want you to know that you can count on me at any time."

"Well," confessed Luna. "So far we haven't really begun planning the ceremony itself."

"Oh, my dear," Mrs. Weasley blurted out. "We better get started soon on that then, don't we? How about you and Ron pop by tomorrow? I do after all have some experience in planning these kind of things, you would do well in taking advantage of that."

"Well, maybe," said Luna hesitantly. "If it's not too much trouble-"

"No trouble at all," Mrs. Weasley hurriedly assured. "Shall we say around noon-ish?"

"That sounds about right for me," said Luna. "I will ask Ron. It sounded on him though like he had things to do tomorrow. Possibly Quidditch practice or so. But if he can, we will both pop by then."

"Well," said Mrs. Weasley with a confident look on her face. "Even if he can't make it, perhaps you could stop by at any rate? These sort of things are better left to us women anyway, wouldn't you agree?"

Luna didn't know quite what to say. It felt wrong to possibly leave Ron out of the planning of a ceremony which involved the two of them so greatly. But, she reminded herself, there would be plenty of time for him to get involved later. Also, she wasn't dead certain that Ron was going to be busy tomorrow.

"Right," said Luna. "Well, me and Ron better make sure to get father home alright now."

She walked out of the kitchen to find her fiancé taking leave of his two best friends, as they were going off with the table.

"There you are, honey," Ron said as she arrived. "I was wondering where mum had gone with you."

"Oh, she wanted to talk in the kitchen for some reason. Probably worried about wracklespurts. Which reminds me, are you busy tomorrow? Around noon?"

"Noo," said Ron carefully, considering his practice schedule. "Not that I can recall."

"Good," said Luna slightly relieved. "Because your mother offered to help us get started on the wedding-plans."

"Oh," he said as he faked a groan. "I think I have a dentist appointment."

"Really," asked Luna, crossing her arms. "A dentist appointment, that you didn't bother to tell your fiancé whom you also happen to share an appartment with?"

"Ehh, yeah," he said, less secure in his fib. "Annual check-ups, you know."

"Really," asked Luna yet again. "I didn't know they did annual check-ups every two months."

Harry and Hermione couldn't help it, they let out a hearty laugh.

"Ron, my mate," said Harry shaking his head with mirth. "Do you really dread planning this thing?"

As Ron felt the looks of both his best friend and his fiancé, his cheeks started to redden.

"It's just that I moved out of the house all those years ago, in part to get away from my dear mother."

"Really?" said Harry with a confused look on his face. "But your mother seems like such a nice person."

"You haven't lived with her for the first eighteen years of your life," Ron reminded him.

"Oh come off it, Ron," said Hermione. "You're just afraid they'll make you choose flower arrangements."

"Well, that too," he admitted. "But I still stand by what I said. Mum isn't always easy to deal with."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Hermione said and turned to Luna. "Mrs. Weasley was quite friendly towards me when we were dating. I'm certain that she will be very helpful to you two with this wedding."


	3. Chapter 3

Tying the bowline.

**Author's notes:** Okay, so here we come to the more negative views on Mrs Weasley. This is going to color how Luna views Mrs Weasley in present day. (Most of this chapter is a flashback.) Please note that while working with this chapter I noticed some changes were necessary on Chapter 2, so you may want to reread that one. I'm sorry if some of this seems rushed, I've been very busy with school, and writing on this fic has been going slow as other plot-bunnies have started to gnaw on my skullbone. (Along with this one! This one has been quite the nibbler.)

**Warnings: **Contains negative vision of Mrs Weasley and spoilers for book six.

**Disclaimer: **I'm not JK Rowling. I'm not Harry Potter, who for some reason would like to tell the story of how his best friend got married. I'm just plain old Shantari who doesn't get paid anything. (And who has no intention whatsoever to bind her fics into books and sell them overpriced.)

Chapter 3, First Impressions.

The next morning Luna was standing in hers and Ron's apartment's kitchen, bustling about with the coffee maker. If there was something she had learned from becoming the editor-in-chief at The Quibbler, it was to appreciate muggle-made coffee. It contained more caffeine than the wizard kind, which she gratefully accepted into her bloodstreams. As she got the maker running, she heard a tapping on the window. An owl? Today? She walked up to the window and let the poor bird in, taking the letter from it's beak.

Sorry to be a bother on your day off. But I need you to look at the planned Sunday edition. I know I promised you that I could handle everything, but this is just too big for me. Could you come by around 1'o'clock?

_Marcia April_

Luna sighed and opened the cupboard to get out a cup to pour the coffee in. She had known Marcia from the start to be as unreliable as the weather in April, but she had improved herself greatly during these last couple of months. Her initiative and ambition had led to Luna promoting her to assistant editor, and when she asked her to fill in for her so she could take a couple of days off to go to the reunion and meet up with her father and Ron's family, she had been almost certain that it would be alright. Except that she had asked for a extra day that she at the time didn't figure she would need just in case.

Now that she did need that day to meet up with her future mother-in-law, she wished she had asked for the week off to go to Hawaii. She had always wanted to go to Hawaii, actually, she thought as she poured herself some coffee. It seemed like such a interesting place. She looked at the paper again, sipping at her cup. 1'o'clock. That would mean leaving The Burrow less than an hour after arriving.

No, no, no! She couldn't do that! Mrs. Weasley saying "pop by" last night sealed the deal. In translation to exact terms of time, it meant staying for a hour and a half, minimum. Tea, crumpets, possibly lunch. Leaving in the middle of that would be quite rude, as she had experienced in the past. No, Luna didn't want to give Mrs. Weasley as bad impression of her son's fianceé as she did as her son's girlfriend. Ohh, that memory was way too well burned into Luna's mind.

Three years earlier…

Ron and Luna apparated infront of The Burrow. Just as Luna reaches to knock in the door, he takes her hand.

"Could you wait a little? I think I need to correct my tie."

Luna turned towards him with a bemused look. "Don't tell me that you're nervous to meet your family."

"Well…" Ron pressed his lips together in the corner of his mouth. "Kind of."

With a smile, she stepped up to him and started to fiddle with his tie.

"It's just that," he continued with a sigh. "You are the first girlfriend that I have been serious enough with to introduce to my parents."

"What about Hermione?" asked Luna, looking more focused on the tie.

"Well," said Ron, playfully grabbing Luna's hands with his own. "She was already an inofficial daughter of the house, so that would have been pointless. It would have been like introducing myself to my mother."

"What about me then? I may not be the daughter of the house, but I still have been a frquent visitor."

"Well, you see," Ron started, obviously unsure on how to continue. "It's just that, well,-"

"There you are!"

The door had opened, revealing Mrs. Weasley herself.

"Luna! How nice to see you! Oh, do come in!"

She walked out of the door and began to usher them in from behind.

"What were you doing, standing out there in the cold?"

Before Luna could say anything, Ron intervened.

"I just needed to… correct my tie," he ended, making the truth almost sound like a lie.

Luna found it odd, but Mrs Weasley didn't seem to bother as she immediately made for the kitchen.

"Supper's ready, I'm just going to set the table while you get your coats off."

Luna looked into Ron's eyes, trying to beg the truth out of him. He noticed, but brushed it off. Now wasn't the time to talk openly, although he was starting to wish that he had before…

All in all, aside from Ron's unusual behaviour, Luna experienced nothing during dinner that made her the slightest suspicious. She found Mr Weasley to be very charming, and he found her to be a excellent conversationist. It would have been nice to have gotten to talk with Ginny, but she had made sure to be on a date that evening. Mrs Weasley was overall pleasant through the main course. Later, Luna came to suspect that she might have gotten one glass too many of either the wine or the sherry, but right at that moment, what Mrs Weasley said astounded her greatly. However innocently it had started…

"So, Luna," Mrs Weasley said, with a slight sway in her voice. "What are you doing? You know, besides spending time with my youngest son."

"I work at The Quibbler, with my father," she answered.

"Oh yes, the family business, right?" Mrs Weasley looked to have her eyes slightly unfocused for a moment, but Luna ignored it. Ron on the other hand looked concerned. "Tell me, will you be taking over after your father?"

Ron, who had his wineglass to his mouth, spit some of his wine back into the glass unnoticed.

"I don't know, honestly speaking," Luna replied. "Maybe, it's not sure."

"Oh, I see," said Mrs Weasley before becoming quiet as everyone continued eating. Then suddenly she spoke up again. "So tell me, Ron. What's Hermione been up to lately?"

"I don't know," he answered, hoping that would stop other questions from surfacing.

"She was a nice girl, wasn't she?" Mrs Weasley said with a very chipper tone. "You were so lovely together!"

"M-molly!" Mr Weasley exclaimed.

"Well, it's true, isn't it?" Mrs Weasley said with an almost incredulous voice. "Right? Wasn't she a very nice girl, Ron? Ron?"

Ron threw a quick glance towards Luna, who was looking confused, before answering.

"I guess she was," he said. "But she and I could never really get along, and we weren't really as interested in each other as we had thought." He fully looked at Luna, and gave her a smile before continuing. "Hermione is a nice friend, but Luna is the nicest girl."

Luna smiled at the compliment, but she couldn't shake the ominous feeling that was inside of her. Mrs Weasley stared into her glass, before taking a swig.

"I suppose if you're willing to settle, that's a good thing too."

Ron snapped, but as he was about to rise up and yell at his mother, he stopped himself. He had been at that place before, and he knew that if he started shouting at his mother, she would become "untouchable" and he would be forced through guilt to comply with whatever she told him to do. And he didn't want Luna to have to see him shout at his mother either. Not after how she had told him how she had wished her mother were still alive so that she could talk with her. So he settled for finishing up his plate and making nudges towards the lateness of the hour. Finally, after some chitchat that no one was really into, the hour got so late that they could excuse themselves without being rude.

After arriving at the apartment, Luna looked Ron in the eyes. For a long time she did not say a word, she just kept looking into his eyes. Finally he bent under her willpower.

"I guess you want to know what that was all about, huh?"

"Yes," Luna said with her unusually calm voice, "I would like very much to know why I was not informed that I would be compaired to previous girlfriends. If I had known that in advance, perhaps I could have come prepaired."

Ron sighed and sat down in the sofa, tugging Luna's sleeves so that'd she would sit down as well.

"I don't think there's any way you could have prepaired yourself."

He looked at her with guilt evident in his facial features, guilt that made her warm up to him on the inside, even if she wasn't yet prepaired to show it on the outside.

"The thing is," he said with a sigh. "The thing is, she wants what's best for us. All seven of us. And some time between conceiving Charlie, and giving birth to me, she decided that no one but her knew what was best for us. So she's taken a steadfast control over our lives, and up until we started to beome adults, no one of us had any complaints about it." He laughed a empty laugh. "You know, as a kid I didn't get at first why both Charlie and Bill decided to move as far away from England as possible to find jobs. Now I understand it all too well."

He looked at his hands for a while, a sign that Luna had learned to interpret as him not knowing how to put his thoughts into words. She rose from the sofa.

"I think the both of us could use some tea. Would you like to continue this in the kitchen?"

"Sure," he said. If this had happened earlier in their relationship, he might have been offended by her manner when he was talking about something important, but at that time he had come to understand her way of leaving things unsaid but understood.

As hot water was being poured in the kettle, Ron continued.

"It was of course with our relationships that she became a bit too much. She was almost mad when Bill wanted to marry Fleur. I didn't think too much of it, because I had other things on my mind back then."

"That was when you were dating Lavender, right?"

"I'd rather not be reminded," Ron said, turning his focus to their cupboard as Luna smiled in amusement. One of the first things Ron had tried to be subtle about making clear, when they began seeing each other, was that he was not interested in jewelry of any kind.

"Anyway, as I was saying," Ron continued as he excavated two teacups. "After that it was one relationship after another that had her in the middle of interfering into it. Trust me, when me and Hermione moved together, there didn't pass a day by that she didn't send us an owl asking us how things were. I think Hermione once read between the lines: 'Dear Son and Hopeful Daughter-In-Law, get married and give me non-veela grandchildren.' She thought it was a funny joke, I didn't, and that became one of our top ten arguements."

"I think I might have had a great great grandmother who was Veela, but that might have just been a silly rumour," said Luna.

"That's not the point."

"I know, but if Veelas are upsetting to her, it might be worth thinking about. Please continue."

Ron smiled and sighed at the same time.

"Either way, mum managed to really set her heart on me and Hermione getting together and eventually getting married. When our relationship started to get on rocky ground, she kept giving me advice on how to patch things up. When we broke up, she kept encouraging me to 'give it another go'. Whenever I told her of a new girlfriend she would interrogate me about what she did for a living, how old she was, what she was looking for in a relationship, you name it she aksed it. For quite a while I just went with whatever girl was around, didn't feel like getting invested in someone she'd ask me about. Worked quite well, as she stopped asking me. And then I met you." He got flustered. "Wh-what I mean is of course when I met you for the first time since V-vo-vol-you-know, well, what I meant is…" He took a deep breath and tried again. "When you and I got together, I got more determined than ever to keep mother out of it. For the first time since Hermione, I felt like I had found someone I wanted to get serious with. I knew that the whole idea of getting serious with someone, involved meeting the family at one point. It didn't exactly help that Ginny had already blabbed about us being together to mum, which had made her insist that I invite you over. But I said that it'd be good if I met your father first, and when we did that…"

Luna's face had been becoming more of a mask, but now it completely froze.

"Does that mean," she asked with her deceitfully calm voice, "that you already knew that this would happen weeks in advance of this night? And yet you didn't see any reason to tell me?"

Ron started fiddling with the kettle, pouring tea for the two of them.

"Do you want any sugar with it?" he asked.

"Ron," she implored, pulling at his arms to make him face her. "Please, I need to know. I don't very much like being led around in a blindfold, to give you and your precious mum a laugh."

"That's not what it's about," Ron said angrily.

"Then what was it about?" said Luna, as her face contorted. "Why? Why didn't you wa-a-arn me?" Her voice breaking, she found it hard to speak. As much as she tried to avoid it, she couldn't, and so she started to cry.

Ron put down the kettle, and aproached her to hug and comfort her. But she backed away from him.

"No! I don't want your comfort, not now. I want the truth!"

It pained Ron to see her like that. He couldn't stand the very idea of a sad Luna, and all of him ached to make her feel better which he couldn't. He wanted to punch the bloke that made her so upset, but that bloke was him. Not sure what to do, he just stood like that, until Luna spoke again.

"Ronald," she said. "I've been manipulated, lied to and laughed at before. That's what Hogwarts was like for me. But you… Just tell me, why didn't you say anything?"

He bit his lip, and then looked into her tearfilled eyes.

"Because I hoped there wouldn't be a problem, and…" he sighed and took in a deep breath before continuing. "… and I was afraid. Afraid that you'd leave me. So I hoped, I hoped that it would be different with you. I hoped that she'd accept you, and that you'd never have to know…"

"You!" Luna shouted. But nothing more came out of her mouth. This was truly tragic, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. But being silent meant having Ron's words repeated in her head, so she ended up laughing. "You," she said again. "You're just too silly, Ron!"

"Wha?" Ron was really confused now.

"You honestly figured that it'd be alright if I were never told?"

"Well, I mean. You know," he said kind of lamely.

Luna sighed. "One of these days I'll have to turn you into a decent man."

"I am a decent man," Ron protested.

"Fine then," said Luna slightly snippy. "How about I turn you into a decent man with a common sense? Did it ever occure to you that if _you _never told me, that someone else might? Perhaps your sister? Or one of your previous girlfriends? Sally, for instance?"

Ron got beetred in his face.

"I knew you'd been going through girl after girl before you and I got involved, Ron, but honestly, forgetting that one of my coworkers was one of your exes? Looks like I got my work cut out for me."

"But," said Ron. "Does that mean, that you still want to…?"

"Be involved in your life? Of course it does. I was invested with you the day you lent me your raincoat."

Ron remembered that well. Back then they were still just friends, who lunched together and talked of the good old days with each other. Then one day, it had been pouring down, and Luna had forgotten her raincoat. So Ron had lent her his. He remembered it well, because being without raincoat had given him a pneumonia that lasted a week, and earned him a berating from his coach.

"But what about my mum?"

"We'll learn to deal with it somehow," Luna said matter-of-factly. "If she really wants more grandchildren, she'd have to learn to lighten up around future daughter-in-laws anyway, right?"

"Yeah, that's true," said Ron, giving it some more serious thought. "And if you're really willing to give it a shot, I think she might come to like you quite a lot."

Back to present…

The week after that night, Mrs Weasley had owled and apologized for her behaviour. Luna on the other hand had kept striving to be the perfect girlfriend for a boyfriend's mother these past few years, all to make sure that night wouldn't be repeated. She had figured that she would relax once she was certain that Mrs Weasley fully accepted her as the love of her youngest son. Eventhough Mrs Weasley did seem to be fully acceptable of Luna, she couldn't help feeling that with marriage entering the picture she would have to show herself fully worthy. That's why she really wanted to cooperate with Mrs Weasley and the wedding plans as much as possible. She looked down on the note in her hand. That's why she wished Marcia wasn't always so depending… She looked at the kitchen clock, that was shaped like a Snorkack, it was still eight'o'clock. There was yet some time to make a decision; would she ask Marcia to hold the fort on her own for a little more time or would she cut her and Ron's meeting with the inlaws short?


End file.
